On Fridays I would frequently arrive early, before Fritz and Natalie were home, because Amelia enjoyed having her own special time with me. The front door was occasionally unlocked in the daytime, so I’d let myself in. Sometimes Amelia didn’t even hear me when I walked into her office. I would stand in the doorway and observe her working—her brow furrowed with concentration. Her beauty was impossible to separate from her dazzling mind.

I entered one afternoon and saw, on her monitor, the elevations of a town house. “Amelia, that’s gorgeous.” I was completely sincere.

“Oh, Delta, do you think so?” She looked like a child—so hopeful, so eager for praise.

“Yes, it’s brilliant.” Her supremely functional designs were always layered with ideas. She wasn’t capable of drawing something commonplace.

Amelia was buoyed by my encouragement. I could tell by the change in her posture and the shift in the angle of her chin. “I get so lost in my work, and sometimes I don’t know what’s good and what isn’t.” She rested her fingers on my shoulder. “I can’t tell you what your support means to me.”

Fritz had probably stopped telling Amelia what she needed to hear. I could see her wilting when she didn’t have sufficient praise. She needed someone to prop up her sense of herself.

After discussing her drawings, we would sit at the kitchen counter and she’d make us each a cup of herbal tea. These were some of my happiest moments. Without fail, I would try to steer the conversation in the direction of the baby that she yearned for. I was looking for the right time to address the subject directly and hadn’t found it yet.

Sometimes she asked me about myself. “So I get reports from Ian but nothing from you,” she said one day, a glimmer of curiosity in her eyes.

I sipped a warm mug of raspberry tea. “I feel so fortunate that you introduced us. How did you know?” I was seeing Ian regularly, but going slow on physical intimacy for as long as possible while still maintaining his interest.

Amelia beamed, clearly relishing the role of matchmaker. “It was intuition!”

“He’s an amazing person,” I said. “I feel like we’ve known each other for years.”

“You’re an amazing person.” She squeezed my hand. “By the way, he showed me the photos of his mother’s place. I hear Paula’s planning the wedding already.” She laughed. “And I don’t blame her.” The notes of her laughter rippled through the air.